Merry Days

A new use for ye ol' etch a sketch. Make seasonal signs. I have a weird ability to draw etch-a portraits. I'll try to remember to take photos of them!


My needle felted shelf elf and his white bunny companion taking a rest from all the seasonal activities. I made him a few years ago. His limbs were wet felted and his face is dry felted.


These are my new floating shelves. I love having a special spot for rotating art shows, seasonal displays, and perhaps MOST importantly, to keep needle felting and vintage figures AWAY from the cats. Cats adore battering needle felted figures. The will go to great lengths to acquire these favorite "kitty toys". I swear they can smell the lanolin.


The combination of ukulele x 2 + 1 trumpet = some extra fun and unusual Christmas caroling! That's me in green.


Winter vacation is a great time to cut up a batch of new paper snowflakes with your kids. Every year I seem to forget how to get the paper folded for a 6-pointer. Yet even the four points are pure magic as you unfold to see the amazing shapes created. They are pretty fun on my purple wall.

This site shows you how to fold 6 points, but could use a little more creativity in the cutting department. For further inspiration, this site has amazing snowflakes with a link to a snowflake flickr group.

Time to decorate your son with pretty lights...... I mean the tree!


Thank you, dear customers and friends, for such a lovely holiday season (Oct-Dec) at Bliss Monkey Studio, Bliss Forest (my plush shop) and Charmish (my charm jewelry shop). Sales, sweet feedback, convos and new friends were delightful. I'm closing up shop for a few days to enjoy some quiet time ..... ok maybe not "quiet time" with my family, but time to play, finish home made gifts, bake cookies, giggle and hide things!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
~Aly~

How to Cook "Over Easy" Eggs Without Flipping

Good Morning! This is my coffee counter just as it appeared mid-coffee prep 1/2 hour ago. The jug makes the hot water, the french press brews the coffee, the bunny mug and milk wait their turns.... and kid snacks supervise on the counter.

Can you believe my kids enjoy a crunchy seaweed snack? Yep! They fight over them.

My eight year old needle-felted THIS french press cozy for me, with two matching coasters. Mushroom forest. I just love it. I collect bunny mugs.

So here's my question. Would you like to learn how to make perfect "fried" eggs without flipping them? If you like your eggs "over easy" so you don't break the yolk, why risk it? Just steam the top done following this handy tutorial.

These eggs came from The Girlz. The lovely brown one is Racy Lacey's egg and the huge white one comes from Star. Her eggs are a different size each day, sometimes two yolks inside!


Get your toast or muffins toasting before you start the cooking. You need a good frying pan and a lid that fits it. If you don't have a lid, you can use a plate, but remember it will get hot with no handle, so plan ahead. Heat your pan to med, warm a little butter or oil, then turn it down a bit before you put the eggs in.

Sizzle!! Carefully crack the eggs in. Turn right to the sink holding the lid upside down to capture 2T (aprox) of water and pour it right into the pan. Put the lid on the pan to steam the eggs. This will cook the whites entirely, thus avoiding the whole flip it but don't break it procedure.

Steamy, steamy, steamy.... it's ok to peek and see if they are done. I like to poke mine to test the whites. Takes just a few minutes. Get your toast and plate ready. Take them out when the yolks are just as you like them. Soft? 1/2 solid? mmmmm..... in my case, to commemorate my Papa Fred who always cooked me an "egg ona muffin" when I was little.... it's muffins.

Breakfast served on my childhood patio picnic table, with salt and pepper cows, bunny mug full of fresh coffee, and the comics. Can you tell it was my one sleep in, no company morning? No human company that is. There's the puppy and the Girlz and two kitties. Now, when I finish my eggs and there's just a little of the comics to read, I make jam toast with Quince jam.

Bon Apetit! And please tell me how the cooking goes when you try my method.

In other NEWS:

Eugene weather report: Nasty! It was a blazing 82 degrees last Sunday, and we were all HOT, and now it's dropped back to 34 degrees last night, with rain and brief HAIL showers! Crazy, no? Brrrr! I was sewing with wrist cozies on last night.

Bliss Monkey Studio report: today's forecast is Classic Blue and Classic Pink cozies followed by some fun with the print gocco.

Arrrrrrrr! Pirate tableware!

Where else have ya seen pirate tableware? I got to thinkin'... what would lady pirates set their table with? Certainly, they would have some down time at sea, occasional marronings, or boring, no-wind-in-the-sales time with nothing but blue ocean on the horizon.... they would have done some piratical crafting. Fixin' up the the galley with some traditional crossbones and such.

Here's what came out of the studio today: pirate coasters. Made of recycled wool sweaters, felted, add some wool roving needle-felted on, and a big dose of rustic embroidery. Yes, they are actually flat when you get them off the fence from the photo session. They are naturally water proof, which makes for great coasters, and they look splendid pegged on the galley wall. Sail into port and stop by AlyTheRed's Bliss Monkey Studio on etsy to purchase these wares for yerself. Arrrrr!

I've read several books about women pirates. Really fascinating! The trouble for historians is lack of real documentation on these wild women. They often passed as men to survive life at sea. Some caught women pirates were used as examples by the government, who made up a history worse in crimes than anyone could possibly accomplish in one lifetime. Or their lives weren't documented at all. Most of what we "know" about female pirates is pure fantasy. Have a little fun with it!